The regional budget project for 2027 continues its parliamentary process in the Canary Islands after the Plenary rejected the totality amendments registered by the three opposition groups --PSOE, NC-BC and Vox-- in the first reading debate.
The accounts total 13,209 million euros, which implies an increase of 717.6 million (+5.7%) over the current budget, and they initially incorporate a reinforcement of 970 million earmarked for essential public services.
The new budget framework arrives conditioned by the disappearance of almost 500 million from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (MMR) of the European Union and by the 4.5% wage increase for public employees --plus an additional 0.5% linked to inflation--.
The Minister of Finance, Matilde Asián (PP), has once again stressed the "uncertainty" surrounding the preparation of the accounts because the central Government has not yet set the main macroeconomic indicators or the stability targets.
Asián has highlighted that although the general IGIC rate is ultimately not reduced from 7% to 5%, as CC and PP proposed during the campaign, the tax burden is not increased, the tourism tax advocated by the PSOE is ruled out, and the regional IRPF rate is deflated.
The text maintains the IGIC 'zero rate' for accommodation and board services provided by halls of residence for students and university residences, extends the exceptional and temporary regime for the importation and delivery of certain goods linked to livestock farming, and preserves the extraordinary and temporary bonus on the final price of certain fuels derived from oil refining.
For the next fiscal year, the regional Executive expects 1.1% GDP growth and sets the unemployment rate at 12.4%.
The minister has emphasized that the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) endorses that the region's finances remain sound until 2031, although she has warned about Spain's failure to comply with the European Union and has urged all groups to intensify oversight of how the central Government uses European funds.
In her view, "if the Ministry of Finance recognizes that the surplus of these funds has been allocated to other budget items, it should not be demanded that it be returned to the autonomous communities".
From the Mixed Group, its spokesperson, Raúl Acosta (AHI), has assessed the “good practice” of the Canary Islands Executive for recording the budget on time every year, and argues that the accounts are “good” for the Canary Islands because they “protect the public’s pocket,” strengthen public services, and back the productive sectors.
Acosta has likewise praised the “prudence and common sense” of the Government and has called on the minister for a package of specific aid for El Hierro in order to “alleviate” the impact of pressure from migration if the central Executive ultimately does not meet its commitments.
For its part, Melodie Mendoza (ASG) has placed the emphasis on the “markedly social nature” of the budget and has assumed that it will be a “mission impossible” to secure the support of the opposition.
She has reiterated that these are “good accounts” for the archipelago, even though she has advanced that they will register partial amendments to extend social progress to all the islands, with special priority for educational infrastructure.
Criticism from Vox and NC-BC of the spending model
Vox spokesperson Nicasio Galván has demanded a “zero base” budget and the exhaustive review of each chapter, understanding that there are grants and disbursements that “make no sense” and that there is “a lot to cut,” citing as an example the 200 million euros annually allocated to the reception of migrant minors.
He has asked Asián for “common sense” because, in his view, there is “room for improvement and savings,” proposing to eliminate the AIEM and “democratizing” the REF, while also denouncing that support for the self-employed is scarce and that the tax deductions “are not enough.”
Galván has also taken aim at the “ideological filth” that, according to him, permeates the accounts, mentioning “climate fanaticism,” the Agenda 2030, or “gender ideology,” and has called for “changing the way of working” in the Servicio Canario de Empleo (SCE), dissolving Visocan and other public companies, and applying the IGIC cut to 5% committed to during the campaign.
From NC-BC, its spokesperson Luis Campos has reproached Asián for the deliberate failure to lower the IGIC because, in his view, they were aware that they were going to “blow up” society and “do away with” the services, and he has defined the budget as “disconnected from reality” due to the “unfair distribution” of wealth and a legislature he considers “a failed one.”
Fields holds that it is “impossible to do it worse” in terms of spending orientation, warns of a “blow” of 450 million to public investment, and alerts that, in four fiscal years, up to 4,000 million could accumulate without being executed.
In healthcare matters, he has insisted that the situation is “impossible to make worse” despite spending having increased by 1,450 million so far in this term.
PP and CC defend the accounts against the PSOE
The spokesperson for the Popular Group, Luz Reverón, has underlined the initiative of the Executive in presenting its budgets as opposed to the inaction that it attributes to the central Government and has defended that the new accounts “reduce burdens” and favor economic activity.
She has emphasized that the tax burden continues to be eased and support continues for Canary Island families, pointing out that the budgets “are not from any party but from all Canarians” because they help “build opportunities” for the development of the archipelago.
The spokesperson for the Nationalist Group, José Miguel Barragán, has ironized about the “actors” the theater has lost, in reference to Luis Campos and Sebastián Franquis, because it seems that “Canarias did not exist” between 2019 and 2023, the years of the so-called “Pacto de las Flores.”
Along these lines, he has stated that it “hurts” the opposition the financing agreement reached with the universities and has acknowledged the failure to deliver on the IGIC cut —“we don’t hide”—, while also asking whether the PSOE passes the “lie detector” when, in the previous term, it did not push forward the tourist tax.
Barragán, however, has recognized that “things have been done badly,” including the deficit in investment in Lanzarote, and has assured that his group will work on the processing of amendments to correct that situation.
From the Socialist Group, its spokesperson Sebastián Franquis has said that the budget “is not up to” the real needs of the islands and has accused the Government of having “squandered a historic opportunity” to transform the economy and the social reality of the Canary Islands, in addition to pointing out the “failure” in housing policy.
Franquis has defended that there is “no lack of money but a lack of ambition and planning” because “it is not taken advantage of” the economic growth cycle nor is the “structural problem” of productivity addressed, and he has criticized the 42% fall in investments in a context marked by symptoms of slowdown.
"The economy grows but it does not reach the people," he has emphasized, showing his "shame" for the cuts in the Department of Agriculture and accusing the Executive of having become "middlemen for private interests".